Catholica Pontifications

Dear friends, With Ash Wednesday upon us, I have decided to take a lenten blogging sabbatical. The physical complaints that I described a month ago—numbness and tingling in my arms and hands—continue. The condition improves if I abstain from typing but quickly returns when I resume. At this point, the doctors are not sure what

The human person has five different senses, five different access points to the reality of the world that surrounds him. The different nature of these access points is not without relevance for the reality itself that is grasped. We are no Platonists or rationalists, for whom the knowledge of the senses signifies nothing more than

All the ways of the Lord are mercy and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and will. We have here a tremendous statement on the subject of faithfulness and mercy. Mercy is mentioned because it is not our deserts but his own goodness that God regards. He forgives us all our sins and promises

O Eternal God! O Eternal Trinity! Through the union of Thy divine nature Thou hast made so precious the Blood of Thine only-begotten Son! O eternal Trinity, Thou art as deep a mystery as the sea, in whom the more I seek, the more I find; and the more I find, the more I seek.

by Al Kimel Did you know that right-wing Episcopalians are committed to the Enlightenment project of disenchanting reality? I didn’t know it, until I read the Anglican Scotist’s article Radiating Disaster Triumphant. In this article the Scotist continues his argument that the appeal to the plain meaning of Scripture is philosophically incoherent: On the one

The Catholic: She wasn’t sure that advice to stay where she was had been infallible as distinct from calling for mere religious submission. The Orthodox: Because her side of the road was becoming dangerously susceptible to Latin influence. The Episcopalian: To demonstrate provisional willingness to meet the stern demands of radical inclusivity. The Lutheran: There

My friend Jeff Steel over at Meam Commemorationem has written a stimulating post on Lancelot Andrewes and Alexander Schmemann on symbol and eucharistic presence: figura et res, veritas et figura. Andrewes was one of the most “Eastern” of the Anglican Divines and had a very high view of the Eucharist. Do drop by Jeff’s blog

The English Reformation was the enshrinement of Liberal Protestantism as a way of life with a bit of liturgy, and Sunday morning dress-up thrown in. The Socinian theology of scholars like Cranmer, Jewell, and Hooker is well known. Bishop Butler provided the definitive defense of Anglican scepticism by writing his definitive book on The Analogy

by Al Kimel In his article Taking Your Pick, the Anglican Scotist criticizes the appeal of “right-wing ECUSAans” (one of his favorite terms for anyone who disagrees with the present direction of the Episcopal Church) to the plain sense of Scripture. He believes that the Anglican commitment to creedal faith precludes any such simplistic appeal: